Jan's View

Rusty's last stand

Well ok, his last collapse after walk number 2 of the day. He was so tired out he let me get in close with the camera for a couple of minutes before trying to lick it.

So, finally blip friends can see a picture of the lovely Rusty in repose. He is so much calmer than 6 months ago, and to be honest he sleeps a lot of the time, mostly under the table or exactly half way between us if we are elsewhere in the house.

He goes home tomorrow and we'll really get the hoover out. The floor is cleaned every day but it still looks like the forest has moved into the kitchen. The hall by the front door IS the forest, with a nice thick layer of pine needles refreshed daily.

After the good health news yesterday, I woke up with a hurting belly this morning, it perhaps didn't like being messed with? Now I feel fine and have done an hour of demanding water-gym "Hold you stomach muscles in! All the time!" with no problem. Weird. I really like the exercises though, demanding and not as simple as they seem... and a lot like Taichi.

Easter will soon be here so we have stocked up on wine and prosecco and vegetables to make dinners with. There is chocolate too, after a long Lent without any. Looks like being an open house of unspecified numbers, which is just lovely. We'll be here and we'll receive guests. Get in touch if you're at a loose end.

The first Rusty-walk of the day was in a blast of freezing air and a lot of snow falling. That eased off as the day progressed and the snow that has turned into white ice is melting fast. The wind dropped eventually but we are in for a chilly Easter. Not a sign of daffodils, they are called Easter Lillies here, which I always think is wishful thinking to be honest. I cut some pussy willows and have them in a vase without water so they stay soft and grey.

One nice tradition here is to take in birch twigs and let them burst into life in the heat of the house. If we do that we can both get hay fever, which dawned on us after a while... You can also have them outside and decorate them with coloured feathers, which looks bright and cheerful and weird. I took the Christmas wreaths off the front doors, and took down the Christmas star, so the decorating is well underway!!